My running life post Chicago Marathon has been glorious. Low mileage, BoxUnion and Barry’s with Marta, occasional racing, and a bit of pacing. The other day I ran past an empty soccer field mid-run was in the mood to run fast, so I did 10 sprints. Why not? It’s been a nice break from the super structure of marathon training.

Brent and I stayed in LA this year for Thanksgiving Ashley and Chad’s Wedding. We celebrated at a golf club in the mountains in Burbank. It was perfect. I have the best of friends. I’m still on a high from that day!

Despite getting home at midnight, the next day I work up early to run the Grand Prix Turkey Trot in Dana Point. Considering my mileage has been lower, I thought I might be able to run a PR. Marathon training exhausts my legs, so I’d been feeling a little more pep in my step. The gun went off and I tried to keep my teammates Julia and Rachel in my sight. First mile, 5:57. Oops! This is gonna hurt. I tried to slow it down a bit, but kept running sub 6:10. I thought to myself, “It’s a 10K. I’ll just let myself crash and burn. No biggie.” But I never crashed. I hit mile 5, and looked down at my watch and did a bit of math and thought “If I can run a final mile in 6:05ish I’ll run in the 37s.” I felt strong and confident, and was so excited to see a 37 on the race clock.
The weekend before Thanksgiving I ran my first cross-country 6K with the Janes at the USATF SoCal Cross Country Championships. My goal was not to be the slowest Jane. We’re openly competitive 🙂 The course was tough, but I managed not to trip or fall. Oh, and I finished smack in the middle for our team.

These days I’m loving the shorter stuff. I feel like I have a lot more to give in the 5K/10K. I love racing, and I can do it more often with shorter distances. I’ve also managed to run exactly 18:28 in the 5K THREE TIMES so I’m looking for a 5K to add to the schedule and lower that number. I’m hoping working on speed will help me in future marathons. I think I’ve got the endurance down; my legs just don’t love running fast.

The real highlight since Boston was TODAY at the California International Marathon. Ellen ABSOLUTELY KILLED IT! I last minute decided to head up there to spectate and pace for the final few miles. Spectating is no joke. Thank you to anyone who has ever cheered for me. It’s a different kind of stress! Sprinting to the car, avoiding road closures, looking out for your runner, praying they’re feeling good. Oh it was so amazing to watch years of hard work pay off today. When I first met Ellen she had never run a marathon, she ran her debut at LA in 4:02 and today she joined the sub-3:10 club running a 3:08. Sub-3, we’re coming for you! I am so so so so proud. It was so amazing to see her execute what I know she has had inside her for a very long time. And to think, this is only the beginning.

Huge thank you to the Mulholland family for their hospitality. I always love spending time with them 🙂 Now I’m off to celebrate the Brent. Happiest of birthdays to my 35 year old partner-in-life.

2:55.09. But a number doesn’t tell a story, and Chicago was quite the story. I wouldn’t change the experience, but my 26.2 journey was far from perfect.

Let me rewind to Saturday. Brent, Ellen, and I stayed in Ukrainian Village with Erica (former EQ3 teacher) and woke up to some crazy thunder/lightening. I was worried about the race getting cancelled on Sunday, so I was hoping we’d get the storm out of the way in time for the marathon. After our morning coffee, we hit up the expo. It was so well organized, had plenty of freebies, and didn’t get too crowded.

3rd marathon major. 3 to go.

After splurging on a Myo Buddy Pro, we went to meet my parents at their hotel. They drove down from Michigan for the weekend. They went off to wander on Michigan Avenue, and Brent and Ellen went off to run/rock climb. I took full advantage of their hotel, ordering room service, taking a bath, and watching trash on TLC. We had a super early dinner at Mart Anthony’s, recommended by Alison (current EQ3 teacher). It was authentic and perfect pre-race food. Because we ate so early, we decided to go get dessert after. I’m thinking this may have not been the best idea before the race, but I honestly think they were worth it. These donuts were deliciously greasy. I have a stomach of steel, and the race isn’t for another 11 hours. I’ll digest all this in time.

I actually slept well Saturday night. The more marathons I do, the more relaxed I feel going into the race. I had my usual bagel PB&J, some coffee. Brent and Ellen drove me to the start. Considering I usually run Boston as my annual marathon, the American Development Tent felt heavenly. Right next to the start, your own porta potties, no gear check (you just leave your stuff at a table) AND we were warming up with the elites. It was such a cool experience. They announced that we’d be walking over to the start, and I had my fuel ready and felt surprisingly calm.

Walking to the American Development Tent

Starting right next to the elites was a surreal experience. They’re announcing Gwen Jorgensen, Mo Farah, Galen Rupp, all RIGHT next to me. I was tempted to jump up and wave at the camera. I felt a bit like a poser. Cristina Lowry shouldn’t be allowed this close to professional runners. Next thing I knew, everyone started running. I don’t remember a count down or a gun. We were off. It startled me!

Chicago satellites are off, so I ran based on feel for the first 5k. I probably averaged about a 6:35 pace. After 5K I locked in at a 6:35-6:40 pace and it just felt so good. I felt like I could run forever. I was pumped, excited to be running with a bunch of guys, felt confident, was repeating my mantras in my mind. I actually never hit a wall during this race. For that I am grateful. I took my first gel at mile 4, and the second at mile 9. At mile 13 right after I saw my parents, I noticed my stomach felt crampy, but I used my mind strategies and focused on how amazing my legs felt. I stayed on pace, running under 6:40 for every mile up until mile 20. I’d dry heave every few minutes, but forced myself to take my mind off my stomach and focus on how lucky I was to be in Chicago, and how hard I’d trained. GROSS DETAILS ALERT. At mile 20 I threw up a little in my mouth and spit it out. As I was spitting it out my watch dinged. 6:43. Damn, if I can run a 6:43 while throwing up, there is no stopping me. Plus, Ellen was out on the course popping out everywhere cheering and screaming like crazy. I know this is stupid, but I wanted to make her proud. She is such a great friend and had come all the way to Chicago to support me. I did wonder if she noticed I wasn’t my usual smiley self. The photo below is a forced smile!

I hit 6:45 or faster from 21-25 (dry heaving every few minutes), then hit the final mile to go and started sprinting. My legs still felt amazing at this point, but I then threw up AGAIN and thought I can’t ruin this now. My last mile was 6:52 which annoyed me. I’m the queen of the negative split!

I turned left towards the finish line and started to tear up. I couldn’t believe I had managed to hit my 2:55 goal on a wonky stomach. I felt so grateful, so proud, and so relieved. Maybe a tad bit annoyed that 2:54 was 9 seconds away, but mostly proud 🙂

Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up.

After I crossed the finish line, whatever sugar was left in my stomach came out. I apologized to the people around me who had to witness it while they were trying to celebrate their finishes. One guy gave me a pat on the back and said “Way to put it all out there.” I didn’t care. 2 fricken 55. I’m inching my way closer to cutting 2 hours off my marathon debut of 4:48. I made my way back to the American Development Tent, saw all the amazing text messages of support. I rushed to meet my parents, Brent, and Ellen.

Training buddy Min. He ran a 3:07!

Seeing Mama and Papa at the family reunion site. I love my parents so much 🙂

I’m not sure how to feel about the race. On the one hand, I hit my goal, but I didn’t have the race of my life. Maybe this is all part of the plan? Boston conditions were meh last year. Stomach issues in Chicago. I’ve run marathons in heat. Maybe this is all to teach me grit? One of these days all the stars will align. One day my marathon experience will be magical.

Post Race at Revolution Brewery

Other random things to share…

Apparently it rained a lot during the race. I was in a trance. I don’t really remember.

I do remember it being quite windy the final 5K, but nothing like Boston.

I warmed up with Mo Farah. His warm up shuffle was probably faster than my race pace.

Ellen is the BEST CHEERLEADER EVER. Her support was so so helpful in 20s. I can’t wait to see what she accomplishes at CIM. Brent, don’t you want to spend your bday weekend in Sacramento cheering her on 😉 OK. Maybe she’s tied for best with Alaina.

Papa is my original coach. He’s the best coach. We’re already scheming for future goals.

In two weeks I’ll be on a flight home from Chicago. I’m not sure what to expect. I’ve never trained like a marathon the way I trained this time around. The Run with the Lab plan is absolute craziness. Blue warns us that many of the workouts are not designed to be completed. The purpose is to push you past what you “think” you should be able to run, and to shift you away from sticking to specific paces. Too often we’re limited by our expectations of what we believe we can do. When I wanted to break 1:40 in the half, I ran a 1:39. When I wanted to qualify for Boston for the first time, I needed a 3:35 and ran a 3:33. The first time I attempted sub-3 hours in the marathon, I ran 2:58. Blue’s philosophy is that we might be limiting ourselves when we set these goals, and he pushes us to train as hard as we can using % effort to gage the workout, rather than a pace.

Sidenote: this picture gives me chills…

A few of our workouts…

Here’s a 90 minute progression starting at 80% effort, moving up to 90% to 95%. I ran this at a 7:15 pace at the end of August, and 6:56 pace in early September (oddly a higher milage week with more work stress). I’ve found with this plan some days go beautifully, and on other days I fail miserably. I had several progression runs that regressed rather than progressed. 6:50s that turned to 7s and down to 7:30s.

I’ve also never had a training plan that incorporates speed for every long run. Here we are doing 1K repeats after a long run.

And no Yasso 800s this time around. I did a lot of sprints. Different for an endurance junkie.

In the past, my confidence came from nailing race pace tempo runs. This time I’m drawing my confidence from the fact I know I have never had such specific workouts and worked this hard. I’m especially happy considering I did this training when there was whole lot happening at school…

What will this translate to on race day? I don’t know but I trust the lab and their plan, and I really hope the work translates to a marathon PR. It’s been 2 years. I can’t wait to see!